Feb 9 Wholehearted Homes Guide to Meal Prep and Planning

Whether you are one person or a family of seven, meal prepping and planning can be exceptionally helpful during a busy work week. Below are some tips and tricks that will take you one morning to complete and have you feeling ready to rock the week ahead!

Don’t over complicate your meals. It always sounds great to make the chicken roulade on a weeknight, but save it for the weekend! Make sure your meals consist of a fat, fiber, protein, and carbohydrate ( a balanced meal) and you will be set. Click on the link to grab a list of different options that can be paired together for any meal!

Don’t over do it on the planning. It sounds great to plan seven full meals for the week ahead, but lets be honest, that is a lot to do and thinking about all those dinners that need to be made will end up having you ordering take out and wasting good food in your fridge! Start with four or five meals and leave a few nights open for leftovers, getting creative with whats in your fridge, or dining out! Also, remember to use your dinners as lunches the next day, this cuts down on wasted food and is one less meal for you to think about!

Label your grocery list and make it in the order you want to shop. Using the following as categories for your grocery list will help you when you are at the store with the millions of others doing their grocery shopping.

Produce

Meat/Diary

Pantry

Frozen Aisles

Walk your kitchen as your making your list. A lot of times lists are made in your head or on the go, make sure you are in your kitchen when making your grocery list and walk around your kitchen looking in your pantry and fridge to make sure you aren’t going to over buy on one item or forget another.

Plan what you are going to prep. When you plan what you want to prep you are more likely to actually prep those items. Thinking you will prep everything for the week is a lofty goal (and for me, overwhelming). Pick a few key items; breakfasts, roasting/chopping veggies, mashing sweet potatoes, boiling rice, dessert.

Prep your food. Take an hour when you get back from the store and prep those items you already chose. It does take time, but its worth it come Wednesday when you are scrambling in the morning and smile because you already prepped breakfast.

Six steps and you are set up for a week of successful meals and no week day food stress!